


baby as the lights go down

by wethethousands (atlantisairlock)



Category: Now You See Me (2013)
Genre: Ambiguous Relationships, Ambiguous/Open Ending, Experimental Style, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-06
Updated: 2014-11-06
Packaged: 2018-02-24 08:43:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 351
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2575268
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/atlantisairlock/pseuds/wethethousands
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nitrocellulose (also: cellulose nitrate, flash paper, flash cotton, guncotton, flash string) is a highly flammable compound formed by nitrating cellulose through exposure to nitric acid or another powerful nitrating agent. Uses: Magician's flash paper; sheets of paper or cloth made from nitrocellulose, which burn almost instantly with a bright flash leaving no ash or traces.</p>
            </blockquote>





	baby as the lights go down

**Author's Note:**

> title from 'sparks fly' by taylor swift.

_Nitrocellulose (also: cellulose nitrate, flash paper, flash cotton, gun cotton, flash string) is a highly flammable compound formed by nitrating cellulose through exposure to nitric acid or another powerful nitrating agent. Uses: Magician's flash paper; sheets of paper or cloth made from nitrocellulose, which burn almost instantly with a bright flash leaving no ash or traces._

 

 

Magicians are good at that, Alma learns. Disappearing. The rabbit in the hat. The assistant in the box. The ball under the cup.

The woman in her arms.

Henley is there one second, and then she's not. She comes home from an exhausting day out on the field to a steaming cup of coffee, a drawn bath, and a redhead in her bed. She'll fall asleep in a snug embrace and wake up to pristine sheets and a fluffed pillow. The only evidence of Henley being there the night before will be toast on a plate with a cube of butter sitting on top. 

She eats alone, secure in the knowledge that the magician will be there again when she's most needed. 

 

 

They have a new trick. It involves making Danny look like a manslaughtering klutz, which is immediately approved by Dylan. He doesn't catch Henley when she falls from her bubble and she gets swallowed up by flames making up the stage centrepiece; they love hearing the audible gasp from the audience before she reappears on a platform above their heads and does a few acrobatic stunts to get back down. It's very well received. It makes Alma smile. 

Henley's so very good at what she does, her vanishing trick, her manipulation, her -

 

 

One morning it's more than toast - it's a cream-coloured notecard with the Four Horsemen symbol neatly printed at the top-right corner. The handwriting is perfect cursive and says nothing more than  _goodbye._

On a whim, Alma lights it up. She's right. Flash paper. It disappears in a flame as red as Henley's hair. 

She doesn't expect to see them ever again. 

She doesn't.

 

 

The last notecard before they find the bodies, she keeps. 

_abracadabra._

_now you see me,_

_now you don't._


End file.
